George a



G. A. BOWEN.

REFRIGERATOR.

(No Model.)

Patented May 7, 1895.

NITED STATES GEORGE A. BOWEN, OF FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF TO CHARLES L. MUENTER, OF SAME PLACE.

REFRIGERATOR.

EEPEGIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N 0. 538,724, dated May 7,1895.

' Application filed June 16, 1894- Serial No. 514,762. (No modelJ To allwhom it may concern:

Be it known that L'GEORGE A. BOWEN, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Fond du Lac, in the county of Fond du Lac, and in theState of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRefrigerators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention has for its principal objects to strengthen the ice-box ofa refrigerator and to provide for ready removal of the ice-rack,dripfdeflector and a water-tank that are normally maintained in saidice-box, whereby the latter may be more easily lifted out of the refrigerator-casing and the cleaning of all the parts facilitated.Therefore said invention consists in certain peculiarities ofconstruction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth withreference to the accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical transverse section of aportion of a refrigerator embodying my improvements, the section beingtakenon line 1 1 of the third figure; Fig. 2, a similar view taken online 2 2 of the succeeding figure; Fig. 3, a vertical longitudinalsection taken on line 3 3 of the first figure; and Fig. 4, a planview'on line 4 4. of the preceding figure, certain of the parts beingbroken away and others in horizontal section.

Referring by letter to the drawings A represents a refrigerator casingand Bthe cover for the ice-box portion of the casing, the latter andsaidcover being of any suitable material and constructed in any suitablemanner known in the art.

The ice -box herein shown has its walls turned over at the upper end toform a continuous horizontal flange, that may be stiffened at thecorners by reinforcing plates, and when said box is in position for usethe flange rests on a corresponding countersunk ledge of the casin g.However no claim is made in this case for any peculiarity in the meansfor suspending the aforesaid ice-box in said casing. As a matter ofpreferred structural detail the bottom of the ice-box is formed bycontinuations of the walls bent inward and upward and having theirmeeting edges soldered, seamed or otherwise joined together whereby acontinuous trough is formed around the inside of said box, the latterbeing given sufficient pitch to insure the flow of water toward anopening 6 therein that leads to the drain-pipe D of the refrigerator,and I also show the inward and upward turned wall-continuations of suchdimensions that a central opening is left in the bottom formed by theirunion. It is also preferable to have the drip-pan E conform in shape tothe lower portion of the ice-box, whereby narrow channels are formedoutside the walls of said box and these channels have the necessarypitch to conduct water of condensation to an opening 0 in said pan overthe drain pipe. It is also preferable as a matter of structural detailto have the drip-pan suspended by reourved integral portions at thereofengaging the edges of upwardly inclined bottom portions of the ice-box.

The ice-box in any form is materially stiff ened by means oflongitudinal strips F of band-iron herein shown as bolted to wallsthereof against spacing-thimbles e, and these longitudinal band-ironstrips form supports for transverse strips G of like material from whichthe deflector H is suspended by rivets or other suitable means, the endsof the latter strips being bent down to come outside the former stripsand thereby hold said deflector against lateral displacement. Inpractice it may be found convenient to so place the spacing thimbles asto have them abut the bent ends of the transverse strips H in such amanof the ones G, so that these ends may be bent upward as well as downand thus serve the double function of preventing lateral displacement ofthe deflector and ice-rack.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the deflector and ice-rack areseparate and both of them may be readily removed from the icebox for thepurpose of cleaning.

The ice-rack is preferably of corrugated metal and provided upon itsunder side with band-iron strips K that extend beyond its edges andserve as guards to prevent it from shifting about, the guards in thisinstance being longitudinal and the corrugations transverse, but thisarrangement may be reversed, and in such a case the ends of theguardstrips would be arranged to oppose the spacing-thimbles abovespecified. i

Adjacent to the drain end of the refrigerator, the ice-box is providedwith a transverse strip L of band-iron secured in place by rivets orother suitable means, this strip serving as a support for hooks M castor otherwise secured to a water-cooler N, and as an advantage of thisconstruction and combination of parts it will be seen that the coolermay be readily lifted out when the faucet thereof is detached, therebeing no screws or other holding devices that necessitate removal beforesaid cooler can be displaced.

By having the cooler so readily removable the weight of the ice-box maybe materially lessened when it is desirable to lift the same out of therefrigerator, and it also follows that in order to have access to allparts of said icebox and cooler, the latter must be removed, otherwisethe operation of cleaning cannot be perfectly performed.

In order to obtain the necessary clearance for the faucet-boss of thewater-cooler, the icerack is cut away at one corner as best illustratedin Fig. 4, and it is to be noted that the hook supporting the strip L inthe ice-box braces the latter in a transverse direction.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A refrigerator having its ice-box interiorly provided with supportingstrips held in place against spacing-devices, and a deflector havingsuspending strips that rest on those aforesaid.

2. A refrigerator having its ice-box interiorly provided with supportingstrips held in place against spacing devices, a deflector, andsuspending strips for the deflector, these latter strips being arrangedto rest on those aforesaid and turned down at their extremities to comeoutside the same.

3. A refrigerator having its ice-box interiorly provided with supportingstrips held in place against spacing devices, a deflector provided withsuspending strips that rest on those aforesaid, and ice-rack guardsrising from the deflector-suspending strips.

4. A refrigerator having its ice-box interiorly provided with atransverse bracing strip adjacent to one of its ends, and a water coolerhaving hooks that detachably engage said strip.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, atFond du Lac, in the county of Fond du Lac and State of Wisconsin, in thepresence of two witnesses.

GEORGE A. BOWEN.

Witnesses:

O. L. MUENTER, H. B. CHAPIN.

